Dont blame the tea parties or talk radio for senseless violence

V FOR VENDETTA - 2011
There are, of course, those who do not want us to speak. I think that even now orders are been shouted into telephones and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because when the truncheon maybe used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who would listen, the enunciation of the truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppressio...

Glenn Beck Worried Other Left-Wing Nuts Like Loughner May Kill Palin
Dangerous left-wing Activists such as Jared Laughner are trying to Murder all of our Republican officials, such as Gabriel Giffords and Sarah Palin, according to Glenn Beck. You can find his call against violence on his website, conveniently located next to the publicity photo of him brandishing a Handgun of his own. The real tragedy of all of this is that people are being mean to Sarah Palin, the real Victim of this whole shooting thing, as Pareene notes. You should never blame the victim, but...

Palin, Paranoia, and Political Assassination
I don't know if I want to, or can, add anything that's not already been said in the din following Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' shooting. The act alone is jarring, though not altogether surprising—the tide of this Time Magazine article from a few months back has done nothing if not escalate. But in the paranoic, partisan backlash that's already occurred—dotting Facebook walls, churning HuffPo and RedState articles, turning up the bleat of Talk Radio ever-more—it seems as if there ...

Unbelievable! Democrat Rep James Clyburn blames Tucson shooting on reading of constitution last week
Unbelievable! Democrat Rep James Clyburn blames Tucson shooting on reading of constitution last week Lets see how Democrats and their usurpers in the media have played this Tucson shooting. First it was Sarah Palin’s fault for the “targets” on 20 Congressional Districts deemed winnable in the 2010 Midterm Elections. Then it was Glenn Beck’s fault (of course). Then the popular excuse still going to today was to blame the Tea Party, and claim that Jared Lee Loughner. Now,...

Loughner mugshot released
The Pima Country Sheriff Department released a mugshot of suspected-gunman Jared Lee Loughner, 22, on Monday afternoon. Loughner was arrested Saturday at the scene of the shooting that killed six people and wounded 14 others. He's been charged on five counts of Murder, Attempted Murder and attempted Assassination of a member Congress. He made his first court appearance on Monday. ...

Tea Party Express: Left trying to 'smear' us
The Tea Party Express blasted liberal criticism of the movement on Monday in a fund-raising email to members, saying the left is trying to "smear" them and Sarah Palin. The email defends Palin, who has taken heat from some liberals who say her PAC went too far in using a graphic with crosshairs on specific Congressional Districts, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Some have said the Rhetoric is at least partially to blame for the Tucson shootings. The email notes that the liberal si...

In the wake of the Arizona shootings, would you support tighter gun control? | Poll
A man walks by the Glock Handgun billboard at a 2003 NRA meeting in Orlando, Florida. The shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, in the attempted Assassination of Gabrielle Giffords and the Murder of six others in Tucson used a Glock 9mm semi-automatic pistol bought in Arizona. Photograph: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters Yes, absolutely, and if the tea baggers demand to have their rifles taken from their cold dead hands, then I would hope the government would oblige them....

Paul Krugmans Libel Against Conservatives: Its All About Forcing A Return Of The Fairness Doctrine To The Media
Left-wing New York Times columnist and Economist Paul Krugman is exploiting the tragic shooting in Arizona Saturday, which claimed six lives, including the lives of a federal District Court judge and a 9 year-old girl, and which critically wounded Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. In a disgraceful op-ed column today entitled “Climate of Hate,” Krugman pinned the blame for the shooting on the Right. Krugman’s discredited spend-and-borrow economics are bad enough. But h

Tea Party Express Fundraises Off Giffords Shooting: 'Tea Party Won't Be Silenced'
In an apparent effort to distance themselves from the Mass Shootings in Arizona over the weekend, the Tea Party Express sent out an email to supporters proclaiming that they "won't be silenced" -- and asking for contributions. Earlier today, TPE leader Sal Russo went on Fox News and lamented how "revolting and disgusting the left is for trying to associate the tea party with violence like this." This latest email emphasizes how "horrified" the TPE was to hear about the shootings, which includ...

Clyburn Calls for Reinstatement of Fairness Doctrine
Clyburn said he thinks vitriol in public discourse led to a 22-year-old suspect opening fire Saturday at an event Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords held for her constituents in Tucson, Ariz. Six people were killed and 14 others were injured, including Giffords. The shooting is cause for the country to rethink parameters on free Speech, Clyburn said from his office, just blocks from the South Carolina Statehouse. He wants standards put in place to guarantee balanced media coverage with a re...

AZ Sheriff Once Blamed Local Violence on Policymakers Who Stopped Institutionalizing Mentally Ill
Awww. Wikileaks Hemorrhaging a Half-Million Euros a Week. S. Wolf on Rep. Clyburn: “Reading Of The Constitution” on House Floor Contributed To Climate Of AZ Shooting DanlBoone on Now: NYT’s Paul Krugman Blames Giffords Shooting on Right-Wing Rhetoric. Before: Kurgman Encourages Lefties to Hang Sen. Lieberman in Effigy… cthelight on Rep. Clyburn: “Reading Of The Constitution” on House Floor Contributed To Climate Of AZ Shooting mike r. on Dem Rep. James Cl...

Arizona Massacre Prompts Political 'Cheap Shots'
When Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords collapsed outside the Safeway in Tucson Saturday morning, felled by a hail of bullets that killed six and wounded another 13 innocent people that had come to see her, some were quick to claim that the carnage was the product not merely of the tortured mind and trigger-happy fingers of the alleged shooter, 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner. Rather, many on the American Left said the horror could be traced to the malign influence of American Conservatives; members...

Exclusive: David Koch Refuses To Answer Questions About Citizens United, Secret Right-Wing Meetings
This is Part 3 of a three-part installment of ThinkProgress’ interview with David Koch. Watch Part 1 here and Part 2 here. Last week, ThinkProgress conducted an impromptu interview with David Koch — one of the Richest men in America, co-owner of the conglomerate Koch Industries, and a top financier of right-wing front groups — after we found him leaving the swearing-in ceremony for Speaker John Boehner (R-OH). In the first part of the interview, Koch said that he “admire[s]”

Talk Radio Hosts Reject Blame in Shooting
Source: nyt TUCSON — During Tucson’s first rush hour since a weekend shooting left six people dead and 14 wounded, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords, Talk Radio hosts pushed back against arguments that their heated political Rhetoric had played a role in the tragedy. Phone calls poured in to stations across The Dial to denounce Sheriff Clarence W. Dupnik, who said at a news conference over the weekend that Arizona had become “the mecca for prejudice and Bigotry” and that local

Tea Party Leaders Strike Back at Left Over Giffords Incident
And “strike back” is the proper metaphor. Because on two occasions today, self-appointed leaders of the Tea Party movement quite literally lashed out at their political enemies over the Gabrielle Giffords shooting, in ways that show both a tendency toward painting their opponents in dehumanizing lights, and a good degree of guilt: Another Tea Party Leader is accusing the left of unfairly blaming the Tea Party for the Mass Shootings in Arizona, describing how “revolting and di...

Judy Clarke, Who Defended the 'Unabomber,' Will Represent Jared Lee Loughner
Judy Clarke, the attorney who represented "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski, will defend Jared Lee Loughner, the young man authorities say tried to fatally shoot Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Loughner, 22, the College Dropout who went on a shooting rampage Saturday morning in Tuscon, Ariz., has been charged with five federal counts, including the attempted Assassination of a member of Congress. Additional charges are expected. The suspect has an experienced defender of high-profile criminals ...

Time to Focus on Left-Wing HATE
Enough is enough.  I’m a little sick and tired of hearing it form holier-than-thou liberals and Progressives about “threatening Speech” — that somehow this is the garden variety conservative’s way of venting against peace-loving liberals when they are “targeted” by mean ol’ Sarah Palin… like this: What’s that?  This is a graphic targeting Republicans?!!  OMG! What is about to follow here is a litany of pictures you need to see. 

Acid Rhetoric Flashbacks
Big Hollywood’s headline board is loaded with examples of leftwing celebrities behaving rather badly: 1. Flashback: Ebert’s Site Praises Left-wing Bush Assassination Film 2. Flashback: Kathy Griffin Says 2011 is 16-year-old Willow Palin’s ‘year to go down’ 3. Flashback: Alec Baldwin threatens to Stone Henry Hyde, kill Children 4. Flashback: Joy Behar wants that ‘bitch’ Sharron Angle to go ‘to hell’ 5. Flashback: Aaron Sorkin happy when hunters shoot ea

Stop Blaming the Tea Party for the Arizona Tragedy
After the attempted car bombing in Times Square last year, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg publicly speculated that the attack had been carried out by "somebody with a political agenda that doesn't like the health-care bill or something." At the Nation, columnist Robert Dreyfuss wrote that "a member of some squirrely branch of the Tea Party, anti-government Far Right" was probably behind the bombing. Countless others in the left-wing blogosphere joined the "blame the Tea Party" chorus-unt...

Arizona Rampage Suspect Ordered Held Without Bail
What is this? Jared Loughner has made his first court appearance and has been ordered held without bail as the federal case against him in the killings of six people and wounding of 14 others in Tucson, Ariz., on Saturday gets underway. During a short appearance before federal Magistrate Judge Lawrence Anderson in Phoenix this hour, the 22-year-old Tucson man appeared to "understand everything the judge was telling him," CNN's Ted Rollins just reported. — Attempted Assassination of a membe...

Arizona Rampage Suspect Ordered Held Without Bail
What is this? Jared Loughner has made his first court appearance and has been ordered held without bail as the federal case against him in the killings of six people and wounding of 14 others in Tucson, Ariz., on Saturday gets underway. During a short appearance before federal Magistrate Judge Lawrence Anderson in Phoenix this hour, the 22-year-old Tucson man appeared to "understand everything the judge was telling him," CNN's Ted Rollins just reported. — Attempted Assassination of a membe...

Shooting Rampage in Tucson Threatens Livelihood of Disharmony Trio
There’s a prescient passage in a remarkable book by Journalist Will Bunch which has a remarkable title: The Backlash. Right-Wing Radicals, High-Def Hucksters, and Paranoid Politics in the Age of Obama, a book that came out last summer. The passage in question goes like this: "For all the people who wonder whether this increasingly not-so-pent-up rage in America could make an impact on actual government policy or question how the coiled energy of the Tea Parties and the 9-12ers and the Oath K...

Bob Kerrey: The health-care bill was one of the reasons Loughner was angry
I know Ed mentioned it earlier but I think it deserves its own post. So random and haphazard is this that I can’t even tell if Kerrey means Loughner was angry about the original health-care bill that passed in March (i.e. the “rabid tea partier” narrative) or the Repeal bill that the House will vote on next week (which Kerrey explicitly mentions here). Presumably it’s the former. There’s not a shred of evidence I know of to support his theory and Kerrey himself se...

Flashback: Clinton advisor wanted Obama to have another Oklahoma City bombing for political gain, Clinton draws parallels betwee
From a post of mine back in November: Video of Dem pollster: What Obama needs is for someone to blow up a building like in Oklahoma. That Dem pollster is also a Clinton adviser: President Clinton reconnected with Oklahoma. And the President right now he seems removed. And it wasn’t until that Speech that he really clicked with the American people. Obama needs a similar kind of, yeah.They had the narrative already written and were waiting for something like the shoo...

Guest Post: V for Vendetta - 2011
V for Vendetta - 2011 After the horrific mass Murder in Tucson yesterday I had trouble sleeping last night. When my mind gets overloaded, I can’t sleep. I came downstairs at 3:30 am and for some reason decided now was the time to watch the movie V For Vendetta . Many people had recommended this movie over the years, but I had never gotten around to it. Well, on the day after the attempted Assassination of a Congresswoman and Murder of six others, including a Federal Judge, this movie pro...